Jaipur appears to be staring at a possible tragedy as no rooftop lounge has taken a no objection certificates (NOC) from the fire department in the last two years, and most of these are running illegally, according to officials.

After the Surat tragedy which killed 23 people, the Jaipur Municipal Corporation (JMC) is acting against coaching institutes in the city but has forgotten its earlier notices given to rooftop restaurants. Nearly 194 notices were served last year to the commercial complexes, including rooftop lounges which are running without proper documents and have no fire safety measure in place. Some months ago, the civic body had cracked down on rooftop restaurants and cafes that did not have NOCs for fire but forgot to act on the notices.

As per the rules for getting an NOC, a building with 15 metre ofh should have fire NOCs, failing which the building can be sealed. Officials said several hotels and lounges which applied to get the NOCs have failed to produce the documents required. The documents required to get the fire NOC include copies of an approved map, a lease clearance, a fire prevention layout, urban development tax receipt where the tax should be paid in full, a lease money receipt and a sewerage money receipt. Once the hotel or rooftop lounge produces the documents, an inspection is carried out, and then the NOC is issued.

Abha Beniwal, JMC deputy commissioner (fire), said that several hotels and lounges, including the rooftop lounges, have failed to reproduce the required documents for getting the NOC. “We have served 194 notices to the commercial complexes last year regarding the fire NOC. Even after that, no rooftop lounge has taken the fire NOC since the last two years. These rooftops lounges mushroomed nearly around the same time,” said Beniwal.

“Proper hose pipe with underground tank, smoke detectors, water sprinklers, fire alarms etc. along with exit doors and proper exit plan to let people exit in case of emergency is required in order to approve the commercial complex for having fire safety measures in place,” added Beniwal.

Shipra Sharma, former deputy commissioner (fire) at JMC, said after the Mumbai Kamala Mills fire incident, fire notices were served in all the commercial complexes of Jaipur as a fire safety drive. However, very little was done to take the action over the rooftop hotels where most of them are running illegally.

On tackling the issue of the illegal rooftop lounges running in the city, Rajiv Dutta, deputy commissioner (enforcement), JMC, said right after taking action against the coaching centres which do not have fire safety measures in place, within the next 10 days, the seizure procedure will be taken up for the hotels and rooftop lounges which are running illegally in the city.

First Published: May 28, 2019 12:00 IST